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Wednesday, February 5, 2014

The Vizhinjam Deepwater Port and Container Transshipment Terminal is a $2 Billion, world-class port and Kerala's flagship infrastructure project. The Government of Kerala as part of its various programs for development of the state, has identified to develop Vizhinjam International deep water Multipurpose Seaport. It has formed a separate company, viz. Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL) as a special purpose Government company (fully owned by Government of Kerala) that would act as implementing agency for development of the greenfield port at Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala. The Ministry of Environment & Forest, Government of India accorded Environmental Clearance to this project.

Vizhinjam International Seaport is a proposed port by the Arabian Sea at Thiruvananthapuram in India. The total project expenditure is pegged at
6595 crores over three phases and is proposed to follow the landlord
port model with a view to catering to passenger, container and other
clean cargo. The port will be one of the largest ports in the World.Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL) is a special purpose government company (fully owned by Government of Kerala)
that would act as an implementing agency for the development of a
greenfield port - Vizhinjam International Deepwater Multi purpose
Seaport- at Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram, capital city of Kerala.

The Vizhinjam Port was originally conceived about 25 years ago. The
initial project model was suggested as the Public Private Partnership
(PPP)- Private Services model. Two rounds of bidding and tenders called
under the PPP model ended up as a failure as a result of various reasons
including the inherent un-viability of the project's economic
rationale. The first round was granted to a Chinese company that failed
to secure the security clearance from the Center, the second round which
was first awarded to Lanco Group and then challenged in the Kerala High
Court by Zoom Developers led to the eventual withdrawal by Lanco Group.

Vizhinjam is an all-weather port located on the Southern tip of the
sub-continent, it is just 10-12 nautical miles from the busy Persian
Gulf - Malacca shipping lanes which carry almost a third of the world
shipping traffic.

Central to the eastern and western coast lines of India - can cater to the needs of both west and east coast.

The proposed transshipment terminal will be an ideal location for
attracting mainline vessels ranging from Post Panamax to Malacca-max in a
phased manner.

The proposed site is endowed with natural depth of more than 20 m as close as one Nautical Mile from the sea coast.

The proposed site has minimal Littoral drift and as such would
hardly require any maintenance dredging during the years of operation.
This will result in low O&M Costs.

The proposed port is a Green-field project, away from urban/city
limits, and thus can be master planned and shaped by the professional
and experienced developer as per his own efficient designs and needs.
The Port can turn out to be an efficient, modern and highly productive
port with design, expertise and experience of the successful developer
having international experience in such ports.

Once the port is up, Indian exporters will not have to rely on
foreign ports for trans-shipment of cargo. It is expected to save at
least 1000 crores in expenditure annually.

Tourism Potential of Vizhinjam Sea Port

Kerala was listed as one of the 10 paradises in the world by National Geographic.

Kovalam (2 km) and Varkala (50 km) are major tourist destinations in India.

Kollam, a popular gateway for backwaters & lagoon excursions is less than 2 hours drive.

Importance of Vizhinjam Sea Port

During the last decade, there has been a steady growth of container
traffic at the Indian ports. Currently, the majority of these ports rely
on direct services or use far off ports for their transshipment needs.
This necessitates the establishment of an International Deepwater
Seaport and Container Transshipment Terminal in the Southern Indian
Peninsula.

The port is proposed at Vizhinjam, 16 km away from Thiruvananthapuram, capital of State of Kerala. Kerala being the southern most state in India beset by Arabian Sea.
The proposed Vizhinjam port is just 10 nautical miles from the
International Shipping Lane. The Vizhinjam port is endowed with a
natural seawater depth of up to 24 m as close as one nautical mile from
the seacoast. Due to this natural depth, Vizhinjam can attract the
largest container vessels currently in operation and also the future
mega container carriers. Site needs minimal capital dredging thus the
project cost and maintenance cost will be minimum.

Vizhinjam Sea Port Project Details

The port development is proposed to follow the landlord port model
where the dredging, reclamation as well as basic external infrastructure
work like construction of break-water and quay wall will be taken up by
VISL. Further, it is also expected to monitor Land Acquisition,
road/rail infrastructure, water and power supply required for the
construction and operations of the port on behalf of Government of
Kerala (GoK).

The port terminal will be developed under Public Private
Partnership(PPP) model wherein the construction and operation of the
port terminal would be on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis. The
port development along with the external infrastructure work is
envisaged to be carried out in phases with the cumulative cost estimated
to be around Rs. 6595 crore. The port is envisaged to provide in total
2000m of quay length in three phases and is designed to cater primarily
for containers transshipment, besides providing for other type of cargo
such as Multi-Purpose, Break Bulk.
The construction of basic civil infrastructure viz. dredging, land
reclamation, construction of breakwaters and quay wall, as also land
acquisition, road/rail connectivity and other external infrastructure
required in phase 1 and the cost for the same is estimated to be Rs.
3040 crore. The said project cost is proposed to be funded through Rs.
1130 cr as equity from GoK and balance amount is proposed to be raised
as debt through loans from banks/ institutions and through bonds.